Case Fans and Cooling

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scottgeorge-harrison

Commendable
Oct 22, 2017
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Hey, hopefully this is the best place for advice.

So I am looking to buy more fans for my case (2x120mm) but im wondering is it better to intake air or exhaust it. my case is this:
http://www.gamemax.uk/products_162_106.html

I have a GTX 1080ti and a Maximus Formula IX with a Corsair H60 Hydro Cooler for cpu.

I know my GPU and watercooler exhaust the air and the 2 fans in front of the case intake. so would it be better to shove more cool air in?

Any suggestions?

Thanks
 
Solution
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You want balance with intake and exhaust. For the front you have space for 2x140mm fans. Bigger is better in this case so get 140s for the front definitely. In the back is going to be your corsair h60. You can add one up top for a balanced 2 in and 2 out airflow.
Here's a nice video about optimal numbers of fans:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8OmkmluAYAQ (can skip to 11:52 conclusion if you don't want to watch the whole thing).
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If you have a blower type card meaning a single fan on the bottom of the gpu, and then an exhaust grille out the back of the case on it, then yes.
If you have a card that's exhausting into the case on out the sides of the gpu, then that heat will rise up and exhaust up the top/back of the case. Do you have a founders edition video card?
 
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Yeah its the founders edition so that blows it out back of the case right?
 
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Yes founders edition blows out the back of the case. Typically they themselves run a little warmer, but they heat up the inside of your case less, so ultimately however you position your fans won't much matter. In either orientation you'll have enough airflow across your memory, mobo and hard drive.
 
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Cant you connect 4 pin to 3 pin though?

and ahh okay but what about the exhaust fan for the cpu would it be a bad idea to put one at the top near there so it doesn't "steal" the air from the cpu?
 
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but couldnt i control it with that switch? but thank you
 
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It won't steal the air as you're pumping in more than you're exhausting (140mm fans intake more than 120mm fans exhaust) but you can test this out yourself. You'll be buying only front fans. You already have fan (your current front fan) to test up top.
 
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alright thank you for the help. last question.
which would you recommend the most for the front 2 fans?

http://www.corsair.com/en-us/air-series-af140-quiet-edition-high-airflow-140mm-fan?utm_medium=Affiliate&utm_source=Skimlinks-2617611&utm_term=3899435&utm_content=&utm_campaign=12707046&Link_name=Weekly+Deals%3A+Up+To+40%25+Off
http://www.corsair.com/en-gb/air-series-sp140-led-blue-high-static-pressure-140mm-fan-twin-pack

just so i know

Thank you though! much appreciated
 
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You are aware the fans I listed are a twin pack so its 2 fans for the £18 ??

They are honestly ideal for the money mate , 3 Lin volt controlled so will plug straight in your case fan controllers.


I digress you can actually fit both those 120mm as top exhausts , run them on 1 fan controller on low speed & the front 140mm ones on the other controller full speed & you maintain positive pressure.

In all honesty you are better moving the corsair h60 to the top of the case nearest the front IMO.
I probably wouldn't bother myself though.

 
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Static pressure (the SP140) fans are better for pushing air through barriers. Meaning radiators, and filters. If your case has a dust filter at the front, then static pressure fans tend to do better in getting air through it than do air flow fans which you'd typically put on exhaust as on exhaust you don't need a filter, you're pushing air out. But it won't be huge difference if you don't want to worry about this.
 
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Alright guys thanks for the help, i really do appreciate it! I am going to go with the fans madmatt30 has recommended.

For the front i will get 3 pin fans and run them on full when gaming? what about 4 pin fans shall i not bother since it would be better running it on full withthe 3 pin?

and with the top exhaust ones i will play around and see where i get the best performance

but thanks guys, im new to all this so thanks for being patient
 
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In your case the sp would be the practical choice.

As sp have a more generalised airflow pattern which is fine for intakes because you don't need the directional centralised airflow that the AF series give.

The sp are straight 3 pin which means you wont have an issue using the case fan controller.

I've not used the falcon but I've used other gamemax cases & the fan controllers I've seen have closed 3 pin sockets meaning a 4 pin physically won't fit them.

To summise , you are over thinking it just a little tiny bit ;-)
 
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Haha i am but i also am having conflicts with my dad because he thinks i should get a 4 pin and connect to my motherboard so the fans go when they need to, but i do overthink things, now i am worried that my graphics card might be too high and could do with it been a slot down to get better airflow.

I've had warnings about things getting too hot so thats why im worried haha
 
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4 pin fans you'd have to have 4 pin system fan headers on the motherboard since your fan controller wouldn't work with them.
Your mobo model actually does have support for
1 x CPU Fan connector(s) (1 x 4 -pin)
1 x CPU OPT Fan connector(s) (1 x 4 -pin)
3 x Chassis Fan connector(s) (3 x 4 -pin)
1 x H_AMP fan connector

so in fact yes if you wanted you could get two 140mm pwm fans for the front, plug them into the 4 pin fan headers on the motherboard. Asus will have a utility which will allow you to set up temp/rpm curves for each fan, so that you don't need switches, they'll ramp up and down automatically according to temperature once you set them up within the bios or the utility.
You would even have space for your top fan, and it can be pwm or voltage controlled, doesn't matter, your mobo will handle it.

I like pwm fans cause they're a bit more responsive than the voltage fans, and I like the mobo oriented setup cause of the fact I can micromanage them from a utility in windows however I want. But that's cause I tend to be a bit ocd about my rig.
However, voltage controlled fans do just fine as well and are the preferred choice for most rigs, and if you prefer physical switches, you might as well use them on your case. They usually give very good performance/value ratio so you won't go wrong with the previous suggestion either.
 
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So with this mobo i can have multiple fans running and they will change the flow accordingly? would this be a better choice for a smoother performance and maintained life span or doesnt it make a difference? i dont mind it being 3 pin or 4 pin but which do you both think is better? and if the 4 pin is better which fans do you recommend?
edit: could i plug both fans into the H_AMP fan connector even if they run at a lower amp?
 
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You see Im actually the other way,I prefer to use case fan manual controllers when they're available.
Ive got a board with 6 fan headers but still use the case controllers on my fractal case for the 4 x 140mm fans I have installed.

& Honestly the sp140's are quiet enough to run full speed anyway.
Fronts on full ,exhausts on low & you can just forget about it completely.


Cables are also a hell of a lot neater straight to a case fan hub,I hate the location of fan headers on most boards ,they tend to be scattered everywhere.
 
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Don't worry about lifespan on the fan, they have ridiculously long warranties anyway when you're buying from a decent company like corsair.
Smoother performance...that's again preference. I like micromanaging from a utility but as you can see others like manual switches, it's totally up to you. In the end I play enough with my fans that it could qualify as manual though they have defined temp curves when I leave them alone 😛 It's preference and that's really up to you.
 
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i might go with the 3 pin way then for the ease and tidiness cause i understand it with the cables showing. and if they are as quiet as you say it shouldnt be a problem. Dont the parts have an ideal working temp though?

 
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Multiple pcie slots are for running sli (dual nvidia cards) or crossfire (amd version of the same with up to 3 cards).The thing is total number of lanes is limited by your chipset. So if you're running i5-7600k (which I am), on intel site it describes max number of pcie lanes as 16. Which means if I ran SLI, each pcie slot would ran at 8x.
Typically when making motherboards, only first slot supports up to 16 lanes. The second is usually up to 8x and third up to 4x.
So, with a single gpu, you want it in the first 16x slot.
More info here:
https://superuser.com/questions/843344/what-is-a-pci-express-lane
 
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